DogStatsD for C#

A C# DogStatsD client. DogStatsD is an extension of the StatsD metric server for Datadog.

Installation

Grab the package from NuGet, or get the source from here and build it yourself.

Usage via the static DogStatsd class:

At start of your app, configure the DogStatsd class like this:

// The code is located under the StatsdClient namespace
using StatsdClient;

// ...

var dogstatsdConfig = new StatsdConfig
{
    StatsdServerName = "127.0.0.1",
    StatsdPort = 8125, // Optional; default is 8125
    Prefix = "myApp" // Optional; by default no prefix will be prepended
};

StatsdClient.DogStatsd.Configure(dogstatsdConfig);

Where StatsdServerName is the hostname or address of the StatsD server, StatsdPort is the optional DogStatsD port number, and Prefix is an optional string that is prepended to all metrics.

Then start instrumenting your code:

// Increment a counter by 1
DogStatsd.Increment("eventname");

// Decrement a counter by 1
DogStatsd.Decrement("eventname");

// Increment a counter by a specific value
DogStatsd.Counter("page.views", page.views);

// Record a gauge
DogStatsd.Gauge("gas_tank.level", 0.75);

// Sample a histogram
DogStatsd.Histogram("file.size", file.size);

// Add elements to a set
DogStatsd.Set("users.unique", user.id);
DogStatsd.Set("users.unique", "email@string.com");

// Time a block of code
using (DogStatsd.StartTimer("stat-name"))
{
    DoSomethingAmazing();
    DoSomethingFantastic();
}

// Time an action
DogStatsd.Time(() => DoMagic(), "stat-name");

// Timing an action preserves its return value
var result = DogStatsd.Time(() => GetResult(), "stat-name");

// See note below for how exceptions in timed methods or blocks are handled

// Every metric type supports tags and sample rates
DogStatsd.Set("users.unique", user.id, tags: new[] {"country:canada"});
DogStatsd.Gauge("gas_tank.level", 0.75, sampleRate: 0.5, tags: new[] {"hybrid", "trial_1"});
using (DogStatsd.StartTimer("stat-name", sampleRate: 0.1))
{
    DoSomethingFrequent();
}

A note about timing: DogStatsd will not attempt to handle any exceptions that occur in a timed block or method. If an unhandled exception is thrown while timing, a timer metric containing the time elapsed before the exception occurred will be submitted.

You can also post events to your stream. You can tag them, set priority and even aggregate them with other events. Aggregation in the stream is made on hostname/alertType/sourceType/aggregationKey.

// Post a simple message
DogStatsd.Event("There might be a storm tomorrow", "A friend warned me earlier.");

// Cry for help
DogStatsd.Event("SO MUCH SNOW", "Started yesterday and it won't stop !!", alertType: "error", tags: new[] { "urgent", "endoftheworld" });

Usage via the Statsd class:

In most cases, the static DogStatsd class is probably better to use. However, the Statsd is useful when you want to queue up a number of metrics/events to be sent in one UDP message (via the Add method).

// The code is located under the StatsdClient namespace
using StatsdClient;

// ...

// NB: StatsdUDP is IDisposable and if not disposed, will leak resources
StatsdUDP udp = new StatsdUDP(HOSTNAME, PORT);
using (udp)
{
  Statsd s = new Statsd(udp);

  // Incrementing a counter by 1
  s.Send<Statsd.Counting,int>("stat-name", 1);

  // Recording a gauge
  s.Send<Statsd.Gauge,double>("stat-name", 5,5);

  // Sampling a histogram
  s.Send<Statsd.Histogram,int>("stat-name", 1);

  // Send elements to a set
  s.Send<Statsd.Set,int>("stat-name", 1);
  s.Send<Statsd.Set,string>("stat-name", "stat-value");

  // Send a timer
  s.Send<Statsd.Timing,double>("stat-name", 3.1337);

  // Time a method
  s.Send(() => MethodToTime(), "stat-name");

  // See note below on how exceptions in timed methods are handled

  // All types have optional sample rates and tags:
  s.Send<Statsd.Counting,int>("stat-name", 1, sampleRate: 1/10, tags: new[] {"tag1:true", "tag2"});

  // Send an event
  s.Send("title", "content");

  // You can add combinations of messages which will be sent in one go:
  s.Add<Statsd.Counting,int>("stat-name", 1);
  s.Add<Statsd.Timing,int>("stat-name", 5, sampleRate: 1/10);
  s.Add("event title", "content", priority: "low");
  s.Send(); // message will contain counter and will contain timer 10% of the time
  // All previous commands will be flushed after any Send
  // Any Adds will be ignored if using a Send directly
  s.Add<Statsd.Counting,int>("stat-name", 1);
  s.Send<Statsd.Timing,double>("stat-name", 4.4); // message will only contain Timer
  s.Send(); // the counter will not be sent by the command
}

// By default, Statsd will split messages containing multiple metrics/events into
// UDP messages that are 512 bytes long. To change this limit, create a new
// instance of StatsUDP
int maxUDPPacketSize = 4096;
StatsUDP udpNew = new StatsdUDP(HOSTNAME, PORT, maxUDPPacketSize);
using (udP)
{
  // ...
}
// To disable the splitting of UDP messages, set this limit to 0

A note about timing: Statsd will not attempt to handle any exceptions that occur in a timed method. If an unhandled exception is thrown while timing, a timer metric containing the time elapsed before the exception occurred will be sent or added to the send queue (depending on whether Send or Add is being called).

Change Log

• 2.0.3
  • Fix event's text escape when it contains windows carriage returns. See #15 (Thanks @anthonychu)
• 2.0.2
  • Strong-name-assembly. Fixes #11
• 2.0.1
  • Remove NUnit dependency from StatsdClient project. See #8 (Thanks @michaellockwood)
• 2.0.0
  • Event support
  • Increment/decrement by value
  • UDP packets UTF-8 encoding (was ASCII)
• 1.1.0
  • UDP packets containing multiple metrics that are over the UDP packet size limit will now be split into multiple appropriately-sized packets if possible
• 1.0.0
  • Initial release

Feedback

To suggest a feature, report a bug, or general discussion, head over here.

Credits

dogstatsd-csharp-client is forked from Goncalo Pereira's original Statsd client.

Copyright (c) 2012 Goncalo Pereira and all contributors. See MIT-LICENCE.md for further details.

Thanks to Goncalo Pereira, Anthony Steele, Darrell Mozingo, Antony Denyer, and Tim Skauge for their contributions to the original client.